Lesotho’s Prime Minister Sam Matekane has declared a national food insecurity disaster spanning eight months from July 2024 to March 2025.
According to Mr Matekane, it is estimated that no less than 700 000 Basotho face extreme hunger because of the severe El Nino drought, that has affected not only Lesotho’s agricultural sector but the rest of Southern African regional countries.
The number of Basotho facing hunger for the next eight months, is a significant increase from the 582,000 people affected in the 2022/2023 period.
“As a result of the El Nino droughts, it is projected that about 700,000 Basotho will need support to have food. Therefore, I declare a national food insecurity disaster effective from 12th July 2024 to 31st March 2025,” Mr Matekane said, in an official statement that he also read on national television.
According to reports from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Lesotho was one of the countries most affected by the Southern African drought in 2020, with an estimated 600,000 people in need of food assistance.
The situation has only worsened since then, with the FAO reporting that 70 percent of Lesotho’s maize crop was affected in 2022.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has also sounded the alarm, stating that Lesotho is still recovering from the effects of the 2020 drought, with 40 percent of the country’s population (around 1.2 million people) affected by food insecurity.
Lesotho Times
